By now, you’ve probably heard of gua sha, the Traditional Chinese Medicine technique that involves scraping your skin with a stone tool. While this may sound harsh, performing gua sha is actually ultra-soothing and has a ton of health benefits (which you can learn more about here).
If you’ve found yourself looking for a gua sha tool, you might’ve noticed they commonly come in an array of stones with unique properties for your mind, body, and skin. This can make shopping and choosing the right tool a bit difficult. Blunt is here to save the gua sha day!
To help you choose which gua sha stone is best for you, we’ve created a guide for easy shopping. Here are six of the most common gua sha stones used and what they can do for you:
Which Gua Sha Stone Is Best for You? Four of the Most Common Gua Sha Stones and Their Benefits
The majority of gua sha tools on the market are made from stones like jade, rose quartz, amethyst, and opalite as they offer specific energies and healing properties to benefit your overall health (including your skin!). Here are four common gua sha stones and what they do:
Jade
Jade is one of the most popular materials for gua sha because it has cooling properties that can calm inflammation and promote balance. “This cooling helps with brightening your complexion, reducing puffiness, stimulating lymphatic drainage, and promoting blood circulation,” says New York-based aesthetician Debra Krueger. “Healthy blood circulation carries oxygen to skin cells, and it will also help penetrate products deeper into skin tissue to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.”
To summarize, jade is used as a gua sha material because it can:
- Reduce redness
- Reduce inflammation
- Promote peace and calmness
- Provide a lifted look
Rose Quartz
Rose quartz, sometimes dubbed the "stone of love,” is thought to have a soothing and calming effect on the skin. It's often used for gua sha to promote self-love and reduce tension in the facial muscles, making it wonderful for depuffing. Some believe it can also improve circulation and reduce inflammation. “Traditionally, different crystals have different purposes. Rose quartz supports heart energy in particular,” explains Katie Brindle, a Chinese medicine practitioner.
To summarize, rose quartz is used as a gua sha material because it can:
- Improve circulation and lymphatic drainage
- Reduce swelling and puffiness
- Relieve jaw and facial tension
- Soothe anxiety and create an overall feeling of zen
Amethyst
Amethyst is a purple quartz crystal that’s associated with relaxation and tranquility. It has one of the richest histories of any stone, with evidence linking its usage back to 4000 BC. For gua sha, amethyst is thought to promote a sense of calm and balance in the skin, leaving a soothed, brightened look in its wake. This is because of the crystal’s reputation for boosting collagen production, reducing puffiness, redness, and swelling, and diminishing tension.
To summarize, amethyst is used as a gua sha material because it can:
- Relieve stress, tension, and strain
- Promote relaxation
- Boost collagen production
- Reduce puffiness, redness, and swelling
Opalite
Opalite – Blunt’s favorite gemstone – usually comes in a baby blue color. Opalite is said to soothe breathing problems (such as asthma), cysts, and fibroids. Plus, it can provide all the skin benefits associated with the stones mentioned above and more. Other physical and emotional benefits of opalite include the alleviation of insomnia, decreased mental fog, a brightened, smoothed complexion, and increased prosperity. We love opalite and its benefits so much that we used it in the Blunt Rolling Stone Gua Sha!
To summarize, we use opalite as the base of our Rolling Stone Gua Sha Tool because it can:
- Improve lymphatic drainage and circulation
- Brighten your complexion
- Diminish fine lines and wrinkles
- Improve skin elasticity and reduce puffiness
- Provide a deeper absorption of facial oils (BLUNT PROTIP: Always use a facial oil before doing gua sha; if you’re in need of a high-quality, ultra-beneficial one, check out our best-selling trio here)
- Release the tension of your facial muscles
- Stabilize mood and provide energy
So Which Gua Sha Stone Is Best for You? Blunt’s Rolling Stone Gua Sha Is Perfect for All Skin Types
The Blunt Rolling Stone Gua Sha is a facial massage tool to lift, depuff, and sculpt. And being made from smooth opalite, it’ll elevate your experience with Blunt’s cannabis facial oils and take it to new heights. Here are some other reasons people everywhere can’t get enough of the tool:
- It can enhance your facial oil treatments with lifting benefits
- It can release any facial muscle tension you may have when paired with Blunt’s cannabis facial oils in Moonrock, Isolate, and/or Seed
- It has a sculpt-friendly shape for all areas of your face and neck
- It’s suitable for all skin types
You can shop the Blunt Rolling Stone Gua Sha Tool here. And before you leave, make sure to let us know if we helped you choose which gua sha stone is best for you and your skin.
Sources:
- Chu ECP, Wong AYL, Sim P, Krüger F. Exploring scraping therapy: Contemporary views on an ancient healing - A review. J Family Med Prim Care. 2021 Aug;10(8):2757-2762. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_360_21. Epub 2021 Aug 27. PMID: 34660401; PMCID: PMC8483130.
- Nielsen A, Knoblauch NT, Dobos GJ, Michalsen A, Kaptchuk TJ. The effect of Gua Sha treatment on the microcirculation of surface tissue: a pilot study in healthy subjects. Explore (NY). 2007 Sep-Oct;3(5):456-66. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2007.06.001. PMID: 17905355.
- Lauche R, Wübbeling K, Lüdtke R, Cramer H, Choi KE, Rampp T, Michalsen A, Langhorst J, Dobos GJ. Randomized controlled pilot study: pain intensity and pressure pain thresholds in patients with neck and low back pain before and after traditional East Asian "gua sha" therapy. Am J Chin Med. 2012;40(5):905-17. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X1250067X. PMID: 22928824.